Personal computer and mobile communications use has steadily increased in recent years, motivated in part by the birth of the Internet. The combination of mobile communications and the Internet makes possible a new set of communications tools and can expand the media, services and manufacturing industries that have contributed to the growth of personal communications.
The next wave of mobile technology, 3G (Third Generation cellular) devices, will be capable of telephony, Internet access, PC-like applications and video streaming, among others. Many of these devices will be enabled with Bluetooth capabilities. Bluetooth is a low power, short range radio technology that may be used to connect one device to another. Bluetooth was developed to standardize wireless communications between devices, removing the need for physical wires to make a connection between devices.
Known in the art is the concept of streaming media across networks such as the Internet. Examples include streaming audio and video from a single server to multiple users, such as is performed by Internet radio stations, content providers such as BMWfilms.com, and news services such as CNN.com. Streaming audio and video may be viewed on a computer using a media player such as Real Networks' REAL PLAYER®.
However, a radio station's broadcast over the Internet cannot be automatically altered by listeners. If a listener desires to hear a specific song, the listener must telephone the radio station and verbally request the song to a radio station employee. The radio station, at its own discretion, may then decide to alter its programming based on the user's request. Because streamed media may be received anywhere in the world, it is often difficult and expensive for an Internet listener to telephone a radio station that is located far away.
A known system for altering a musical performance is the use of a jukebox. Using a jukebox, optionally attached to a facility's audio system, listeners can request music to be played (often for a fee). However, in order to use a jukebox, the listener must physically move to the jukebox's location in order to request a song. In addition, jukeboxes tend to be bulky and take up often limited space in a retail establishment.
One known solution to these space limitations is the use of remote, or mini, jukeboxes at each table in a restaurant. Each table is equipped with a mini-jukebox through which the listener can request a song to be played over a master audio system. The songs are not actually stored in the jukeboxes at each table. Instead, the mini-jukebox at each table is merely an interface through which the user can request music. The requested songs are placed in a queue and then played back in the order of their request.
However, these mini-jukebox systems require a separate interface for each table, and are expensive to install. Additionally, the user must still be physically located at a table equipped with one of the interface jukeboxes in order to request a song. Also, using either a traditional jukebox or a mini-jukebox system, it is not possible for a listener to sample a song before requesting it. If a user does not know or does not remember the name of the song he or she wants to hear, the user must guess which song to request.
It would be an advancement in the art to develop a content delivery system that did not require the overhead associated with traditional jukebox systems. In addition, it would be an advancement in the art to develop a content delivery system that did not require a listener to be at the physical location of a music storage system in order to request a song or video to be performed, and also allowed the listener to sample a song before submitting a request for that particular song. Thus, there is a need for a dynamic content delivery service to compensate for the above recited shortcomings.